WOMEN'S WORK

by Anne Tolstoi Wallach ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 20, 1981

This is the book that set a record for advance payment to a first-novelist, and one can see--though only in the tint half, alas--what the special appeal was. In the opening chapters, ad-agency VP Wallach eschews the usual sleaze-and-soap for irony and intriguing detail as she quickly introduces three women in the N.Y. advertising/fashion world: divorcÉe Domina Drexler, 37, a creative whiz and VP at the Potter Jackson Company, is becoming fed up in her quest for a senior vicepresidency (something all the men at her level have); Domina's chum Maran Slade, an ex-super-model (with a househusband), is now a $700-a-day freelance fashion ""stylist"" for ad-biz ""shoots,"" afraid she'll be ""rubbing makeup stains out of fancy fabrics until I shrivel up and die""; and octogenarian Belle Rosner, a famous fashion consultant, is itching to spring out of retirement. Three agreeably contrasting personalities. . . and they're soon thrown into conflict when the agency--trying to appease Domina's wrath over the non-promotion--puts her in charge of a huge job for the Israeli government: a program, culminating in a fashion show, to smarten up Israel's stodgy fashion exports. Domina wants to hire Maran as consultant, but Executive VP Roe Rossen insists on using Belle, resulting in some convincing tensions leading up to the fashion show--which is saved from disaster (Belle entirely forgets about shoes) by Maran and a truckload of Capezios. After that, however, the novel loses focus and distinction, slipping into an acceptable but routine biz/romance melodrama, complete with corny plotting and paperback prose (""Domina's heart started to flutter""). Domina falls for handsome divorcÉ Roe, you see--an affair which is consummated while they're in Detroit to research the ad-campaign for Ford's new ""Blossom"" car. And true love is thwarted by Roe's jealous ex-mistress, by the piggy agency board, and by a scheming young assistant (a sexually manipulating Southern belle whose All About Eve antics are implausibly contrived). So, after a slurpy depression--""Hear Domina cry, cry in the street, all alone in the snow at dark twilight""--Domina vows to start her own agency, with help from a suddenly enlightened Roe. But what of the far more interesting Maran and Belle? Well, they virtually disappear in this weak second half--except for Maran's arbitrary, Valley-of-the-Dolls demise during a facelift operation. And so, despite Domina's tough-talking ambition, what begins as shrewd, no-nonsense fun winds up as a disappointing cop-out--both women-wise and business-wise--and the male characters throughout are completely unlifelike. Still, with heavy promotion and an engaging first half, this will do well; and even at its lowest it's several classy notches above the tawdry (if appealingly fairy-tale-ish) business fiction of Krantz et al.

Pub Date: Aug. 20, 1981

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: New American Library

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1981

Categories: FICTION